


Green and Bright

by gaslightgallows (hearts_blood)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asgard (Marvel), Christmas Fluff, Everybody Lives, Ficlet, Gen, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Mistletoe, Mother-Son Relationship, Parent Frigga (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 19:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13130847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearts_blood/pseuds/gaslightgallows
Summary: Loki and his mother talk while studying the odd plant that Thor has brought back from Midgard.





	Green and Bright

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UniversesVisiting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniversesVisiting/gifts).



> Okay, not _quite_ 'Christmas' fluff, but close enough! Obviously this ficlet comes from an alternate universe where Thor got banished to Midgard entirely on his own merits  & Loki got to be king for a year without being treason'd against.
> 
> Merry Christmas to UniversesVisiting. I'm posting this early because by the time you're back online, it will be Christmas in your part of the world. Hopefully this makes up for all the fic where I made you cry rage!tears. ♥

It was Thor who had brought the tradition back from Midgard, whence he had been sent after a disastrously ill-advised campaign against Jotunheim. His younger brother didn't quite understand it, but it seemed harmless enough.

"He says it has something to do with the Yule celebration," Loki said, as he stood in the doorway to the grand mead hall, dressed in all his bright green-and-gold holiday finery, looking up at the dull green-and-white sprig that Thor had hung from the lintel. "Such a small thing. Unremarkable, even. There was a time not long ago when he would never have bothered even looking at something so plain. Getting knocked down a peg and spending a year among mortals, learning humility, clearly did Thor a world of good."

"Much like you needing to be regent during Odin's illness and Thor's absence did wonders for your own standing in the court," Frigga replied, with a smile that only hinted at the agony she had suffered, during that long, long year, when it had been uncertain whether Odin would ever recover, or Thor would find a way home. "Though I could have wished for better circumstances, for both of my sons."

Loki darted a hesitant glance her way. "You still claim me as your son," he murmured, his green eyes very bright. "Even though now I know the truth?"

Frigga took his hand and pressed it to her heart. "You will always be my son," she vowed. "It is my fault, mine and your father's, for not telling you sooner. If we had revealed this when you were a boy, perhaps the doubt rising in you would have faded by now. But there is more to a bond between a mother and her child than merely blood, Loki. Or the bond between brothers."

She looked up at the small branch that Thor had brought so carefully from Earth, wondering if he knew the darker stories that the mortals told, of how the Loki of their legends had tricked one of the sons of Odin into slaying another, with an arrow made of that very plant. She suspected not. Thor likely knew only its modern use. 

"Mother? You're smirking." 

"I was merely thinking of the mischief your brother plans with this bough of mistletoe."

Loki's eyes lit up. "Mischief? Thor? You jest." 

"Some of the mortals of Midgard hang these leaves and berries during their winter celebrations, to trap the unwary. It's said that whenever two people stand beneath it, they must kiss."

"...Oh, Thor is going to run _wild_ at the Yule feast..." 

"And you are not?" Frigga teased. "You attracted a number of new admirers during your time as regent. Don't think I didn't notice." Loki's pale face was suddenly tinged with pink, and she smiled and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek warmly, as she had when he was a boy on her knee. "But I claim the first for myself, ahead of all the Yule maidens in Asgard."

Loki blushed harder, the red making a cheerful contrast to the green, and then to Frigga's delight, he kissed her cheek in return.


End file.
